Due to the success of Happylines, I am now a full time author and the 200 year old cottage in Drøbak we have just acquired comes with a garden office overlooking Oslofjord. Fantastic!
I'm thrilled to say that after sending him the first draft, Jens Kristensen has started working with me on our new book 'Blood Moon' and we are both busy busy busy.
I was very privileged to have been asked to translate 'Det norske skieventyret' into English in time for the world skiing championships. It was a great fun job and with help from Brit Asknes from 'Skald' publishers 'How to ski in Norwegian' is now availiable to buy.
Alongside 'Blood Moon' I am also working on the first draft of 'Dead Cool Grandad' with Anne Angelshaug. Now this is a funny book, you know that you're getting it right when you can't stop laughing as you're writing. More on this soon.
As soon as these two books are done i will have a new website. No really... I will.
May 2010
Torbjørn Isbjørn has been bought up (1550 copies) by the Norwegian arts council (Kulturråd) for distribution to libraries, charities and schools. This is great news and i am very thrilled. Take a peek inside 'Torbjørn Isbjørn' here.
I am now officially a full-time self employed author so will be planning a more prolific agenda for my writing lifestyle. This website is a tad anceint and i will be making a brand new shiny one with knobs and everything ASAP.
I will be relocating to beautiful Drøbak in the middle of July. Writing by the sea, where else is more favourable to the senses and soul?
I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky;
I left my shoes and socks there - I wonder if they're dry? - Spike Milligan
October 2009
Torbjørn Isbjørn' has been published by Skald Forlag. Anne and I, together with Brit from Skald launched the book at the Natural History Museum in Bergen.
The book was read to children from a kindergarten and the whole thing was filmed for national television as part of a mini documentory about quality in children's books.
See the clip below.
I am setting up a micro-publishing business. 'Tulpa Media' will be publishing 'The Big Blue Beastly Book for Boys' but first as a trial run I will be re-publishing 'Civilians at War' my grandfather's journals during the Blitz in London. Using a new 'print on demand' business model these books will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble,etc in the UK, America and internationally but not in traditional book shops.
The manuscript for Torbjørn is finished and I'm delighted to say that I have a wonderful illustrator working with me on the book. Anne Angelshaug is an incredibly talented artist and I was very thrilled when she agreed to start working with me on 'Torbjørn', 'Theo's Birthday Surprise' and 'The Day My Dad Turned into a Giant Chicken'.
February 2008
As an 'imagineer' i am eternally grateful that my capacity for exciting new ideas outweighs my ability to actually get them all done. How horrible the alternative, to be a creative being with ample time but devoid of original thought?
Amidst strange meanderings through virtual kinetic sculptures positively screaming for physical realization and several, equally worthy young children's tomes. I find myself in the process of creating a children's guide to metaphysical creative thinking.
'The Big Red Happy Button'
Titus factoid: Due to an unlikely series of events involving a polishing machine, a seagull, a 2m high wall and the mast from the King of Norway's yacht, Titus has not burped since 2004.
We had a very beautiful weather phenomenon occur outside our house, you can see it here. The bit i described as 'horns' i later discovered is termed a circumzenithal arc or a 'sundog'... very beatiful.
August 2007 Well i managed to break my ankle so i have been spending a lot of time on my back pumped full of painkillers, it makes it a bit tricky to write but I have been managing to brainstorm a lot of new ideas.
I have just finished the synopsis for a sad, terrifically scary but ultimately life-assuring tale of a young girl called Jessica. The digitally manipulated photographic illustrations that I hope to have accompanying this project will be something new for this genre but I think it will make for a very effective and beautiful book.
The photographer is June Witzøe and you can find her work and website here.
I am planning a short film to promote my 'Beastly Book for Boys' project to publishers and ultimately to the public. It is a fake advertisement for an outrageous product, more I cannot mention at this stage but it is extremely funny and will be worth the wait.
Did you know? It is impossible to buy custard in Norway. Try it, ask a Norwegian what custard is and they'll look at you as though you just asked them to smear chutney in your armpits. NB:This is probably because they do not know what chutney is either
June 2007 I'm starting work on a book series for 3-6 year olds about some 'Little Monsters' who live in strange places around a little boy's house. Here are the first 3 characters.
They are misunderstood and non-threatening but occasionally are responsible for the strange little things that can happen around the home.
I'm also putting together a great fun book about brilliant but beastly things for young boys.
'Torbjørn Isbjørn' ( The one about the Polar bear) is put to one side for a month or so until i can get a new perspective on the last chapter.
Story development for 'The day my dad turned into a giant chicken' is still ongoing
We now have two new cats. Punch & Judy (My son's choice) very friendly and pleasant.
March 2007
Oh right... Hello... Well what's been going on then?
The text for 'Torbjørn' is almost finished and i'm looking forward to getting on with the layout etc.
I'm collaborating with my old friend Peter Spence and his company 'Electric Putty' in an exciting project. I can't say too much, but I will be writing comedy sketches for a very disturbed alien news reporter character.
'The day my dad turned into a giant chicken.' is the title of my next children's book and, surprisingly enough, it's about a boy who wakes up one morning to find that his dad has turned into a giant chicken and no one else seems very bothered about it. Believe me, this one has some interesting twists and surprises in it.
Alas,our beloved cat Bai (the cat with no sense of direction) never did return. We can only hope that he wondered in to a household that is easier to re-locate with better food and comfier sofas or at least that he is in a happier place.
Oh well, better get a new one then.
May/June/July2006
I've just had some major surgery and then a holiday in Denmark so not much happening for the last two months apart from research for various projects. Research usually takes the form of drinking a little bit too much and/or acting extremely weirdly. Being an imagineer is great excuse for doing either/or both of these activities.
'Bai' the cat with no sense of direction is missing again. Bai If you're reading this, two things...
1: Wow! You can read, that's amazing!
2: Please come home, we miss you.
April 2006
Good news is that after fearing the worst, 'Bai' my big ginger tom cat (The only cat in the world with no sense of direction.) turned up last night after an absence of 2 months. Happy and healthy, he was obviously pleased to be home again and has settled right back in.
I managed to upset my children's writers forum and also got a post banned. you can read the original post and the banned apology/explanation here. It was in response to a vatican exorcist claiming that reading Harry Potter books could lead to satanism.
I thought it was quite funny but you know the pitfalls of mixing religion and humour. Just ask the 'Monty Python Team ('Life of Brian').
To be fair to the forum moderator, as it turned out she did have a good explanation but still i think the whole thing is fairly amusing.
March 2006
Even though the Norwegian's have a little bit of a reputation for being, shall we say... 'Formal' (hence the expression 'stiff Norwegians'), it was not without some surprise and dismay that I discovered that they have no word for 'cuddly'.
Realising that this is completely unacceptable, I have constructed the word (Klemmelig: Klemme - to hug / lig = ly) and am petitioning the Norwegian language Council (Språkrådet) to have klemmelig accepted as an official word in the Norwegian lexicon.
Klemmelig is a qualitative adjective that can be used in an attributed or predicative manner: 'En klemmelig katt - a cuddly cat / Katten var klemmelig - The cat was cuddly'
I will keep you posted on developments.
February 2006
'Rufus' my first children's book has been published in Norway under the title 'Kengeruen Rufus' and is available online here for only 138 Nok.
1550 copies have been sold to the Norwegian arts council (Kulturråd) for distribution to libraries, charities and other concerns.
There are just under 150 copies left in the shops so if you would like one then don't be slow.
I am now searching for an agent/publisher to market the original English version internationally.
(Details of the book on the books & Projects page)
January 2006 - Newspaper Interview
I have given an interview to the 'Smaalenenes avis' a news paper covering the South East of Norway and was given two sides for the story including a large photo of myself reading 'Rufus' to my son Theo. Entitled 'Titus' wonderful World' it is the first article where i have not been misquoted or misrepresented, marvelous!
This was the second time a photographer asked me to hang up-side-down from a tree for a photo. I'm still trying to work out why this is. Answers on a postcard to ...
Reviews and Praise
'Titus is a writer that I would not misunderestimate' George W Bush
Who? J.K.Rowling
'I laughed so much some wee came out' Dalai Lama
'A master wordsmith, the new genius of children's fiction' Titus's Mum
'Of all the children's writers around today ...Titus is one of them' Michael Morpurgo
